Nigel Farage, pictured outside the BBC's London headquarters today, justified paying his wife to work as his assistant because he said he does more work than any other party leader

Nigel Farage has defended paying his wife to work as his assistant because he said he does more work than any other party leader.

The Ukip leader was last week forced to deny claims he had both his wife Kirsten, and a woman alleged to be his former mistress on his Brussels payroll.

He and Annabelle Fuller, a Ukip spin doctor, both vigorously deny the affair claims made by a former Ukip MEP Nikki Sinclaire.

Mr Farage admitted he declared in 2004 that ‘Ukip MEPs will not employ wives’ and ‘there will be no exceptions’. But he told the BBC yesterday that he made an exception for himself because of his workload.

‘An exception was made’, he said ‘because I became leader of the national party as well as a leader of a group in the European Parliament. Things do change in life you know.

‘And you can criticise me for whatever you like, but the one thing I can’t be criticised for is not having a big enough workload...nobody else in my party, or for that matter any other party has, you know, a big job in Europe and a big job in the United Kingdom and that’s why we made the exception. But that’s because of very unusual circumstances.’

MEPs are allowed under a European Parliament rule, uniquely used by British MEPs, to employ relations. Mr Farage’s German second wife is employed on a salary of up to £20,000 a year.

Mr Farage said Ukip ‘don’t encourage’ hiring relatives, but his wife, a bond broker he met on a trip to Frankfurt in 1996, worked unpaid for him for seven years. She is now paid, but he said she would be taken off the payroll following the European elections in May.

He claimed not to be employing her for financial gain saying ‘the way you really make money in the European parliament is by being there five days a week’ and getting a 300 euro (£250) tax-free allowance.